Hi All. I am a macintosh guy (I work at Apple) but I am also a D&D gamer, and I am dying to play this game! I tried using my mac mini running XP using boot camp, and the darn thing won't run. So now I am looking to buy an inexpensive PC to run this game (and maybe a few other D&D titles, if y'all have any must-not-miss favorites to recommend). But mostly it'll be for running ToEE and whatever cool mods y'all cook up for it. So my question is this: What should I look for in a PC so that I can run ToEE with minimal fuss? I can read the system requirements, of course, but the game's a bit old and technology has moved on some (and as a mac guy I haven't been following PC developments) so of the stuff that's out there now, what should I look for? Any new tech that I should avoid? Brands that don't play well w/ ToEE? If you were buying a PC just for this game, what would YOU buy? (Sadly, money is an issue, so make that a criteria too...) Thanks! :nerd:
If I were buying a PC to run this game and other older titles, I would buy something off of www.pricewatch.com rather than buying a HP, Gateway, Dell, E-Machine, etc. I would say perhaps a cpu around the 1gig range, a 128 card, a cheap soundblaster, and a gig of ram. With that spec, you should be amply covered.
Thanks for the great resource, Necroticpus! That looks like just what I was looking for. Thinking about it now, I realize space is kind of an issue too... Does the game run ok on a laptop? Any display issues there I should be concerned about? Any other potential pitfalls? Thanks for all your help!
Avoid Windows Vista if you can help it. XP gets along much better with ToEE. Also, budget concerns aside, you may find that a higher end PC will run ToEE without a hitch (lag and freeze-wise), although throughout the years there have been mixed results with that.
I am really quite biased about this one because I'm a gamer. I've worked with laptops repairing them for 2.5 years and what I've come to learn is that beyond any shadow of a doubt, laptops run more slowly than a desktop of the same specs, are more fragile, wear out more quickly, cost more and have severe heating problems depending on the laptop. I don't like laptops and would never own one because I can't really find a good enough excuse to buy one for any reason. I ain't going to take it biking or to the bar or to a friend's wedding reception or on vacation or on a date or on a plane or anywhere else that I can't use a decent desktop system. To me, there's nothing so important that I need to be wired 24/7. If I owned a laptop, I would have a docking station for it but if I were going to go that way I would just buy a desktop, lol. Kinda like buying a cell phone so that I could text messages on it, lol. Right Gaear?! Perhaps if your job gives you one to use for free, then it might be acceptable.
Gaear: Win XP, check. Will do. Thanks for the tip! Necroticpus: I heard that! Thanks for the input, and I will bear in mind while making purchasing decision! :yes: Plus I agree about constant wiredness; I can check email or get my occasional must-know-now! wikipedia fix on my iphone, so don't need a laptop for that stuff. Indeed, the only real use for this machine will be to play ToEE, plus any other D&D-type PC games y'all might recommend (not familiar w/ PC gaming... I use mostly Playstation). I will really only be doing that at home, so don't need portability, but my desk is a mountain o' shinola, and I wanted something on the small side for space reasons. Plus, I'd like to avoid buying another monitor if possible. My 24" cinema display takes up a lot of real estate, and while it should work fine w/ PC it has a max refresh rate of 60 htz, which may have been the reason the game wouldn't play on my mini in the first place. Hate to buy a new system only to discover this is the case. (Game plays fine on an intel iMac at work, so I don't think Boot Camp is the problem.) A laptop would have it's own display, which appeals for simplicities' sake. Plus I could live out the slacker fantasy of lying in bed all day playing D&D :nerd: So while I am certainly not firmly decided at this point, I would like to know if ToEE has any special problems running on laptops, or if there are any additional specs I should have for that. Thanks y'all!
You want to check the video card. Many "onboard" video cards can't handle the Toee battle scenes. I have a 2 year old Tshibo that hangs regularly. I'm not sure what to tell you to look for. My 8 year old desktop doesn't have this problem.
JaxtheMook, I would avoid PC's with built in video and audio on the motherboard. You really want a dedicated video card for the PC. I would go with a video card with 256MB. Intergrated video uses the RAM for its video memory. You can probably live with intergrated audio, but I would go with a soundblaster or better card. You need it to run at or above 1GHz and at least 1 GB of Ram. I buy all of my PC's off of Ebay (I can repair them.) But as a Mac guy. I recommend you buy a PC that comes with a warranty. Other than TOEE, I would recommend: the Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale series, Planescape Torment (if you can secure a copy), Morrowind, Oblivion, Gorasul and Neverwinter Nights 1/2. (I know it is available for the Mac, but the PC version is so much cheaper.) I know some on the list will disagree with some of my selections, but YMMV.
Ok, here are my criteria so far: 1: Use Win XP, not Vista 2: 1Ghz processor w/ at least 1Gb of memory 3. Video card, not integrated video 4. Sound card preferred 5. And a friend in a private email says that if I use a laptop it should support a mouse that will work with the game. A very good point. Any other suggestions? If I do go with a desktop, what sort of monitor would y'all recommend? Any caveats on laptops specific to this game (and the other games Realmzmaster mentioned)? Any other ideas or warnings? I'll be making my decision in just a couple of days, and really want to get a good ToEE setup. Thanks y'all!!:wave:
I have 2 viewsonic 20" LCDs that are running perfectly since I bought them about 5 years ago. I like Viewsonics. When I bought them brand new they were $700 apiece. Now you can get a large LCD for peanuts because they aren't so new.
I'd agree with Necro on his choice of games. I would add that Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale use the older 2nd Edition D&D rules. If you became a D&D gamer with 3rd edition, there will be some adjustment. Sorry, can't advise on techinal stuff. I've only played TOEE on my home-built computer so have no experience with tyring it on different systems.
Keep in mind that ToEE engine isn't very well-optimized in its core, so it might lag on lower-end PCs. I'd probably shoot for something better than 1 GHz for the processor, though once again, it's not an absolute must to get as much CPU speed as possible for ToEE. 1 GHz might just as well provide quite satisfactory gameplay. - Agetian
